Description
The Church of San Matteo is the Doria family church, in Genoa's old town: a Gothic façade in black and white stripes on a small square enclosed by the family's palaces, perhaps the best-preserved corner of medieval Genoa.
It was founded in 1125 by Martino Doria and rebuilt in Gothic style in 1278, in the same style as the family's houses: pointed arches and alternating bands of white marble and dark stone. To this day it is formally the Doria abbey.
Before going in, take time to read the façade. The Doria's exploits are carved on the bands of white marble; above the portal is a medieval mosaic of Saint Matthew, and a Roman sarcophagus is set into the façade.
That sarcophagus, with an allegory of autumn, was brought from Curzola, in Dalmatia, by Admiral Lamba Doria, who wanted it for his own burial. Above it opens a large rose window, between two wide windows.
Inside, the look is entirely Renaissance. In the mid-sixteenth century Andrea Doria had the church renovated: Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli carved the statues of the apse and the presbytery, while Luca Cambiaso and Giovanni Battista Castello frescoed the vault with the story of Saint Matthew.
A marble staircase leads down to the crypt, with its gilded stucco vault, where Andrea Doria rests in the tomb carved by Montorsoli himself. Beneath the high altar is kept a sword that, according to tradition, Pope Paul III gave to the admiral.
Through an arch to the left of the church you enter the cloister of 1308–1310: pointed brick arches on paired columns, a small well in the middle and the Doria's memorial stones along the walls.
Piazza San Matteo was the heart of the Doria quarter. When it was rebuilt, the church was set back and stands a little higher than the square, so its façade holds its own beside the taller palaces.
The cloister lies behind the palace of Branca Doria, the nobleman whom Dante placed almost at the bottom of Hell among the traitors, and who inspired his invective “Ah, Genoese, men alien to every custom”.
Other Doria victors at sea rest in the church: Lamba, who defeated the Venetians at Curzola, and Oberto, who beat the Pisans at Meloria. For centuries the church kept the banner torn from a Pisan galley in that battle.
Don't miss
• The black-and-white striped façade.
• Andrea Doria's crypt.
• The cloister.
• Piazza San Matteo.
Did you know?
• In the cloister there is an empty sarcophagus: it held the bodies of two saints stolen from Poreč, in Istria, in 1354 and only returned in 1934.
• The church is dedicated to Saint Matthew because he was a tax collector, like the Doria, who made him their patron.
It was founded in 1125 by Martino Doria and rebuilt in Gothic style in 1278, in the same style as the family's houses: pointed arches and alternating bands of white marble and dark stone. To this day it is formally the Doria abbey.
Before going in, take time to read the façade. The Doria's exploits are carved on the bands of white marble; above the portal is a medieval mosaic of Saint Matthew, and a Roman sarcophagus is set into the façade.
That sarcophagus, with an allegory of autumn, was brought from Curzola, in Dalmatia, by Admiral Lamba Doria, who wanted it for his own burial. Above it opens a large rose window, between two wide windows.
Inside, the look is entirely Renaissance. In the mid-sixteenth century Andrea Doria had the church renovated: Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli carved the statues of the apse and the presbytery, while Luca Cambiaso and Giovanni Battista Castello frescoed the vault with the story of Saint Matthew.
A marble staircase leads down to the crypt, with its gilded stucco vault, where Andrea Doria rests in the tomb carved by Montorsoli himself. Beneath the high altar is kept a sword that, according to tradition, Pope Paul III gave to the admiral.
Through an arch to the left of the church you enter the cloister of 1308–1310: pointed brick arches on paired columns, a small well in the middle and the Doria's memorial stones along the walls.
Piazza San Matteo was the heart of the Doria quarter. When it was rebuilt, the church was set back and stands a little higher than the square, so its façade holds its own beside the taller palaces.
The cloister lies behind the palace of Branca Doria, the nobleman whom Dante placed almost at the bottom of Hell among the traitors, and who inspired his invective “Ah, Genoese, men alien to every custom”.
Other Doria victors at sea rest in the church: Lamba, who defeated the Venetians at Curzola, and Oberto, who beat the Pisans at Meloria. For centuries the church kept the banner torn from a Pisan galley in that battle.
Don't miss
• The black-and-white striped façade.
• Andrea Doria's crypt.
• The cloister.
• Piazza San Matteo.
Did you know?
• In the cloister there is an empty sarcophagus: it held the bodies of two saints stolen from Poreč, in Istria, in 1354 and only returned in 1934.
• The church is dedicated to Saint Matthew because he was a tax collector, like the Doria, who made him their patron.